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UK to replace nuclear warheads, secret documents reveal

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, July 25, IRNA
UK-Nuclear Arms
The British government is planning to replace the country's nuclear warheads despite ministers claiming that no decision has yet been made, according to secret Ministry of Defence documents obtained by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

The decision, which has led to renewed accusations that the UK is breaching the NPT, is revealed in a previously unpublished private speech to arms industry executives by a senior defence official, which was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

"This document destroys any credibility in the government's claim that it has not yet made a decision on new nuclear warheads," said CND chair Kate Hudson.

"It is a disgrace that the MoD is secretly telling the defence industry one thing, whilst ministers are saying quite the opposite to parliament," Hudson said.

The British government last year announced controversial plans to upgrade the country's submarine-based Trident nuclear missiles, but insisted that a decision on the warheads will not be made until after the next general election, due by 2010.

CND said that pressing ahead with a new generation of warheads not only breached the non-proliferation treaty but undermined the NPT's review conference in 2010.

"A decision to go ahead with new warheads will have a much greater impact than the plan for new submarines," Hudson warned.

"Building newer, potentially more advanced warheads will breach our commitment to disarm under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and will send out a destabilizing and hypocritical message to other states both with and currently without such weapons," she said.

The CND's disclosure comes after the MoD previously blanked out a censored extract of the document that stated "the intention is to replace the entire Vanguard class system, including the warhead and missile."
In response, the Liberal Democrats have called on the government "to come clean" about its plans to replace the country's nuclear deterrent.

"Des Browne [the defence secretary] needs to urgently explain how the extract from this speech could so clearly contradict stated government policy on a new warhead," said the Liberal Democrats' shadow defence secretary Nick Harvey.

"This government promised an open and transparent debate about replacing Trident, but this feels more like the cloak and dagger days of the cold war," Harvey said.

But a spokesman for the MoD denied that the statement made by David Gould, then chief operating officer at the Defence Equipment and Support Organisation, reflected government policy.

"Decisions on whether and how to refurbish or replace our existing nuclear warhead are likely to be necessary in the next parliament," the spokesman was quoted saying. "No decisions have yet been taken," he reiterated.

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